‘The Good Fairy’ Casts A Spell On Blu-Ray

Going off of fairy tales like Cinderella, Luisa Ginglebusher (Margaret Sullavan) should be the one in need of a good fairy. Instead she gets to be one in William Wyler’s The Good Fairy, a film adaptation of Ferenc Molnár’s play by Preston Sturges (whose screenwriting credits include The Lady Eve and Easy Living).

Offered a job as an usherette, Luisa is allowed to accept the position on the condition that it not interfere with her doing a good deed each day. Luisa hasn’t had the easiest life, so you’d think she’d be cut a little slack. It’s not that good deeds have to take that much effort but hearing that she owes it to the taxpayers who funded the asylum where she grew up [and it’s an orphan asylum, but Luisa always says “asylum,” which causes more than one misunderstanding] seems a bit much. Luisa doesn’t mind, though, and agrees to the terms without hesitation.
What’s amusing about The Good Fairy is it doesn’t feel obligated to stay in one place. While the usherette job is never dropped all together it ends up not weighing too much on the plot, which sees Luisa being invited to a party and subsequently falling into a position where she can make a stranger rich if she pretends that they’re her husband. It’s an unlikely chain of events, but The Good Fairy doesn’t let that stop this comedy. Instead the film barrels along in total confidence that viewers will accept the absurdity of the situation.
What The Good Fairy also has is great character introductions. Luisa’s first scene is her telling the story of the good fairy to the other orphans that she lives with, and while Sturges’ screenplay remains fairly grounded in reality, her belief in magic is what allows Luisa to get swept up in these predicaments. Konrad, the rich man who becomes enamored with her, is played by Frank Morgan and while The Wizard of Oz wouldn’t come out for another four years, his association with the Wizard feels serendipitous when watching this film today (he even has a line where he poses a hypothetical question about Luisa meeting a wizard).
Reginald Owen plays the first man who helps Luisa. Sturges completely underplays what a wonderful misdirect his introduction is (you assume he’s one thing and then you realize he’s another) and Owens’ fiery exchanges with Morgan are some of the funniest scenes in the movie.
Herbert Marshall plays Dr. Sporum, the man Luisa chooses at random to be the recipient of her good deeds. Finally able to afford some new office supplies, the one thing he’s most excited to buy is a pencil sharpener. It’s how you know Luisa made the right choice. Instantly this is someone you care about and whose intentions are pure because he’s nerding out about a pencil sharpener — and since he’s someone you meet later in the film, it’s nice to not have to spend that much time questioning his character.
Film critic and author, Simon Abrams, provides the commentary track for Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray. Between Sullavan and Wyler fighting (and eventually getting married) and Sturges having trouble with the Production Code Administration, it sounds like the opposite of a smooth production, but you wouldn’t know it watching the movie; which is punchy, but only in the sweetest ways.
The Good Fairy is available on Blu-Ray starting January 14th from Kino Lorber.